This wine the 2011 WillaKenzie Pinot Gris from Oregon just blew me away with the overall quality. The color was a very pale straw and the nose was muted white fruit but the palate just exploded with very SPICEY pear fruit and excellent acid to balance. Consumed with spicey Md. crabcakes it was an excellent match. My only bottle but I will certainly be looking to pick up some more as this wine might age very well too. My only slight complaint was that it did not have the viscosity (it did have some legs) and mouth feel of a high quality Alsatian Pinot Gris but that is just picking at nits!

Having recently had another bottle of this, I concur, Jim. WillaKenzie is making some damned good wines.

If you like that, also try Helioterra Pinot Gris. If you can find it.

I met the woman who makes it (Anne Hubatch) prior to tasting the wine. I asked her which hers emulated, the tasteless Italian plonk, the California sweet and fruity or the Alsatian bold and full of character. She smiled and bounced right back at me.

"Neither. Think Northern Italian."

I tasted her wine. She was right. Northern Italian-ate. Crisp and bright and lovely. Been a fan of it ever since.

I just got back from Willamette Valley, and while I didn't have the pleasure of trying the Willakenzie Pinot Gris, I did get to try many other fine examples of 2011 Pinot Gris from the area. 2011 was a really tough vintage, most winemakers there will tell you, and they had the latest harvest in 40 years - some picking through the end of November. But this made for some really elegant, mineral and acid driven wines, and wineries like Chehalem, St. Innocent, and Torii Mor have some lively Pinot Gris from this vintage. We also visited Evesham Wood, and the winemaker, Erin, is making an orange wine from his Pinot Gris of 2011. We tasted out of barrel and I almost couldn't believe it was PG. It had the color of a vibrant rose, and all the aromas and flavors to match. Such a unique wine.

Hoke wrote:Having recently had another bottle of this, I concur, Jim. WillaKenzie is making some damned good wines.

If you like that, also try Helioterra Pinot Gris. If you can find it.

I met the woman who makes it (Anne Hubatch) prior to tasting the wine. I asked her which hers emulated, the tasteless Italian plonk, the California sweet and fruity or the Alsatian bold and full of character. She smiled and bounced right back at me.

"Neither. Think Northern Italian."

I tasted her wine. She was right. Northern Italian-ate. Crisp and bright and lovely. Been a fan of it ever since.

Hoke, I might get smacked down for this, but have you ever had a Stone Wolf pinot gris. It's made by our own Linda Lindsay. Her 2007 which she hand bottle and brought to Mo'Cool for me remains to this day the best USA PG in my experience. It also won some really big west coast awards. 2009 I believe was the last vintage I have had, so I guess I should contact her for replenishment.

Hoke wrote:Having recently had another bottle of this, I concur, Jim. WillaKenzie is making some damned good wines.

If you like that, also try Helioterra Pinot Gris. If you can find it.

I met the woman who makes it (Anne Hubatch) prior to tasting the wine. I asked her which hers emulated, the tasteless Italian plonk, the California sweet and fruity or the Alsatian bold and full of character. She smiled and bounced right back at me.

"Neither. Think Northern Italian."

I tasted her wine. She was right. Northern Italian-ate. Crisp and bright and lovely. Been a fan of it ever since.

Hoke, I might get smacked down for this, but have you ever had a Stone Wolf pinot gris. It's made by our own Linda Lindsay. Her 2007 which she hand bottle and brought to Mo'Cool for me remains to this day the best USA PG in my experience. It also won some really big west coast awards. 2009 I believe was the last vintage I have had, so I guess I should contact her for replenishment.

My first experience with Stone Wolf was in 2002. She sent me a care package to Mo'Cool containing a 2001 pg, an entry level pn, a reserve pn and a bottle of her matriarch series pn. Of the latter there were less than 100 bottles produced, so you might get the idea that IMO she is a special lady, and her wines "ain't" too bad either!